Cinder Quotes

“Even in the Future the Story Begins with Once Upon a Time.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“I don't know. I don't actually remember anything from before the surgery."

His eyebrows rose, his blue eyes sucking in all the light of the room. "The cybernetic opetation?"

"No, the sex change."

The doctor's smile faltered.

"I'm joking.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“I'm sure I'll feel much more grateful when I find a guy who thinks complex wiring in a girl is a turn-on.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“Vanity is a factor, but it is more a question of control. It is easier to trick others into perceiving you as beautiful if you can convince yourself you are beautiful. But mirrors have an uncanny way of telling the truth.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“Kai cleared his throat. Stood straighter. "I assume you are going to the ball?"
"I-I don't know. I mean, no. No, I'm sorry, I'm not going to the ball."
Kai drew back, confused. "Oh well... but... maybe you would change your mind? Because I am, you know."
"The prince."
"Not bragging," he said quickly. "Just a fact.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“Cinder twisted up her lips. "Do you think it could have a virus?"
"Maybe her programming was overwhelmed by Prince Kai's uncanny hotness.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“Prince Kai! Check my fan, I think I'm overheating.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“Soon, the whole world would be searching for her--Linh Cinder.
A deformed cyborg with a missing foot.
A Lunar with a stolen identity.
A mechanic with no one to run to, nowhere to go.
But they will be looking for a ghost.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“Imagine there was a cure, but finding it would cost you everything. It would completely ruin your life. What would you do?”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“When Kai fell silent, she risked a glance at him. He was staring at her hands [which she always holds mechanic gloves over to hide her...you know, cyborg hands]...
"Do you ever take those off?" he asked.
"No."
Kai tilted his head, peering at her as if he could see right through to the metal plate in her head..."I think you should go to the ball with me."
She clutched her fingers..."Stars," she muttered. "Didn't you already asked me that?"
"I'm hoping for a more favorable answer this time and I seem to be getting more desperate by the minute."
"How charming."
Kai's lips twitched. "Please?"
"Why?"
"Why not?"
"I mean, why me?"
Kai hooked his thumbs on his pockets. "So if my escape hover breaks down, I'll have someone to fix it?”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“He was the fantasy of every girl in the country. He was so far out of realm, her world, that she should have stopped thinking about him the second the door had closed. Should stop thinking about him immediately. Should never think about him again, except maybe as a client--and her prince.
And yet, the memory of his fingers against her skin refused to fade.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“Do your kind even know what love is? Can you feel anything at all, or is it just... programmed?”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“Was it all in my head? A Lunar trick?”
Her stomach twisted. “No.” She shook her head, fervently. How to explain that she hadn’t had the gift before? That she couldn’t have used it against him? “I would never lie—”
The words faded. She had lied. Everything he knew about her had been a lie.
“I’m so sorry,” she finished, the words falling lamely in the open air.
Kai peeled his eyes away, finding some place of resignation off in the glistening garden. “You’re even more painful to look at than she is.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“I know this is stupid, but part of me felt like if I could come see you today, if I could convince you to go with me tonight, then maybe I could still change things. It's dumb, I know. It's not like Levana cares if I, you know, might have actual feelings for someone.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“Oh, my stars! Think about Prince Kai! You could dance with Prince Kai!”
This made Cinder pause and squint into Iko’s blinding light. “Why would the prince dance with me?”
Iko’s fan hummed as she sought an answer. “Because you won’t have grease on your face this time.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“She was a cyborg, and she would never go to a ball.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“Right,' said Kai, 'that'll be no problem in a city of two and a half million people. Let me just go dig out my special Lunar detector, and I'll get right on that.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“That you prefer to rule through fear rather than justice? So sorry, Your Majesty, I’m afraid I already knew that about you.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“Clearing his throat, Kai murmured, "You have no idea how to dance, do you?"
Cinder fixed her gaze on him, mind still reeling. "I'm a mechanic."
His eyebrows raised mockingly. "Believe me, I noticed. Are those grease stains on the gloves I gave you?”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“You could move to Europe."
"You know, I've actually been considering that lately."
Kai laughed again, the warmth returning to the sound. "If that's not a vote of confidence, I don't know what is.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“We all have our weaknesses.”
“I know,” said Iko. “Mine is shoes.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“She briefly wished she did have some sort of magic so she could shoot a bolt of lightning through his head.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“It looks more like a rotting pumpkin.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“Speaking of eye surgery, do you realize you’re missing
tear ducts?”
“What? Really? And I thought I was just emotionally
withdrawn.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“...but I’m trying to be inconspicuous.”
Cinder considered telling him it wasn't working but thought better of it. The lack of a throng of screaming girls surrounding her booth was probably evidence that it was working better than she suspected. Instead of looking like a royal heartthrob, he just looked crazy.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“Steadying herself with both hands on the table, she managed an awkward bow....
'Your Highness,' she stammered, head lowered...
The prince flinched and cast a glance over his shoulder before hunching toward her. 'Maybe, um...' - he pulled his fingers across his lips - 'on the Highness stuff?”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“The queen's eyes smouldered. "I know my own kind when I see them, and right now there is one in these city walls." She pointed a finger toward the balcony."I want her found and brought to me."
"Right," said Kai,"that'll be no problem in a city of two and a half million people. Let me just go dig out my special Lunar detector, and I'll get right on that.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“But if there was one thing she knew from years as a mechanic, it was that some stains never came out.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“The doctor brushed past her and gestured at the holographic image that jutted from the net-screen. "Let me tell you what is peculiar about it."
"I'd say 36.28 percent of it is pretty peculiar”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder

“He wouldn't even dance with Levana at the stupid ball if he could help it—to hell with diplomacy.”
― Marissa Meyer, Cinder